A tipping point for open citation data

Open citation data can improve the transparency and robustness of scientific portfolio analysis, science policy decision-making, stimulate downstream commercial activity, increase discoverability articles. Once sparsely populated, public-domain databases crossed a threshold one billion citations in February 2021, during COVID-19 pandemic. Shortly thereafter, from Crossref database alone. Since relative advantage withholding closed has diminished with flood data, this likely constitutes an irreversible change ecosystem. The successes movement guide future open efforts.